Another 15 South Carol. Parishes Join the Diocese Suit to Block TEC from Seizing Local Property

Posted by Kendall Harmon

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Support increased dramatically today for a lawsuit to prevent The Episcopal Church (TEC) from hijacking local property as 15 more parishes joined the suit in an amended complaint filed with the South Carolina Circuit Court, bringing the total number of congregations in the litigation to 31.

The suit, originally filed on January 4 by the Diocese of South Carolina, the Trustees of the Diocese and 16 congregations, seeks to protect the Diocese’s real, personal and intellectual property and that of its parishes. An additional 13 congregations have decided to stay in the Diocese of South Carolina and are considering their own participation in joining the litigation at a later time. The Episcopal Church has eight parishes and eight missions that have elected to stay with them. Nine missions and two parishes are undecided.

One of the parishes joining the amended suit today, Trinity Church of Edisto Island, SC, is one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the United States and was among the parishes that founded the Diocese of South Carolina. Trinity Church was formed in 1774.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: South Carolina

9 Comments
Posted January 22, 2013 at 5:28 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. beyondfedup wrote:

Any word on what 15 parishes joined the suit?

January 22, 10:48 pm | [comment link]
2. Cennydd13 wrote:

Whoever they may be, KJS is not going to be at all happy with this development, you can be sure of that!

January 23, 1:15 am | [comment link]
3. SC blu cat lady wrote:

I don’t see how the “convention” of the TECcies will be legitimate as there is no way they can have a quorum of the Diocese of South Carolina there if they only have 8 parishes and 8 missions. 

I am glad that more parishes have joined the lawsuit making it clear that the majority of the diocese has left TEC. It will be interesting to see how the SC courts view this matter with so many parishes suing the national church.

January 23, 8:21 am | [comment link]
4. Cennydd13 wrote:

I’m sure that this will not go unnoticed…....especially if it gets enough press coverage…..and not on page 2.

January 23, 11:18 am | [comment link]
5. Sarah1 wrote:

This is nice nice news.

January 23, 1:29 pm | [comment link]
6. Cennydd13 wrote:

And not only for the Diocese of South Carolina, Sarah1, but for others as well, who may be facing a similar situation at a future date.

January 23, 3:42 pm | [comment link]
7. Katherine wrote:

These 31 parishes, plus an additional 13 who are staying with the Diocese but debating whether to join the lawsuit, make 44.  Add the 16 groups going to TEC plus 11 undecided to make a total of 71.  This means that 62% of the Diocese is staying with the Diocese (maybe more when groups decide).  TEC cannot logically pretend to have a quorum of the Diocese on Saturday.  They are a new group.  If these reports are accurate in the use of the terms, an even larger percentage of established parishes is staying with the Diocese, since the dissenters include “missions.”

January 24, 9:24 am | [comment link]
8. SC blu cat lady wrote:

Katherine, That is correct. The Diocese of SC consists of 71 congregations (i.e. parishes and missions). You are absolutely right in realizing that a large percentage of the more established parishes are remaining with the Diocese of SC and the small missions and parishes seem to be remaining with TEC. I wonder if that is because of the status quo sort of behavior or have these small parishes been promised something by TEC? I don’t know but I suspect it is just the status quo behavior from these small parishes and missions. Small parishes and missions in rel. isolated areas of the diocese tend to be rather independent by nature and perhaps they have not realized what is really going to happen to them by remaining with TEC.

Again you are absolutely right that there is no way they can have a quorum for their meeting in Charleston on Saturday. They can if they take another name. However, I suspect they will ignore the TRO and continue as planned.

January 24, 10:03 am | [comment link]
9. SC blu cat lady wrote:

Back to #3, Well, we now have a partial answer to how the SC courts are going to be looking at this matter. The TRO (temp. restraining order) is an excellent development for the Diocese’s legal case as it means they have already put forth a convincing case about the basic facts. For more analysis, Mr. Haley the beloved Anglican Curmudgeon has much to say about the TRO.His blog, Anglican Curmudgeon should be the first place you go for more legal analysis.

January 24, 10:11 am | [comment link]
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